Hello. I'm still working on the next chapter. This was to be a part of it, but I decided to use this as an interlude instead. Consider this my way of letting you know this story isn't dead.
Also, for anyone new who might be stumbling upon this story for the first time…I would say read the original story that this is a sequel to, but in all honestly, I'd wouldn't do that. It's old and dumb and other things I'll explain next time you see me, but if you want to understand at least some of what's going on in this story, it'll do a passable job of doing so.
New Blood AS: Winds of Change
Interlude – Back to Base
"It's good to be back..."
Having said his goodbyes to Foxy, Diana and Kula, and fresh off another impromptu mission that he was ordered to go on, Luka could feel his spirits lift as he entered the familiar comfort of his personal lab.
"Hopefully, that will be the end of it for some time." He muttered to himself as he pulled on his lab coat. "I'll have to remind these people that I'm a scientist, and just because I also was trained in the art of killing doesn't mean they can use me for their own dirty jobs."
Luka was more than ready to sit down and get back to his real job: research. As head of the genetic engineering and training aspects of what some in the know were referring to as the "Anti-K' project", it was baffling how they expected him to get results if they kept turning around and demanding he go on missions as well.
"Now, to see how my little pet project is going. Hopefully Kirou didn't muck things up while I was gone." Luka strode out of his lab with every intention on finding out if any progress was being made.
There were two other scientists along with him here: Kirou Tsuyomi, who was Haru's father as well as a notable expert in his own right, and Yuuma, though he was more interested in robotics, and such had several irons in the fire at the organization. Sakari would also assist him from time to time, particularly with combat and fighting techniques.
…Of course, that also meant he had to deal with a lot of clones that ended up killing themselves in the middle of a fight but seeing as Sakari was a hard young man to phase, it usually didn't affect him much.
However, what met him wasn't Kirou, Yuuma, or even Sakari, but a girl with radically dyed hair and a rather peeved look on her face. Irena Toryu, his associate and the newest person to be put under his 'command'.
"Yo, Irena." He greeted his associate. "Wasn't expecting to see you here today. They finally got you out of communications duty for the day?"
"Luka, do you have any idea who the hell thought it would be a good idea to have Haru and Vio shipped off to Japan in order to spy on the SSC?" Despite her even tone, the suppressed irritation was still evident in her voice.
"SSC? You mean those Shin Sekai boys who crashed the end of tournament?" Luka said, pretending to play dumb.
Irena's eyes narrowed. "Yes, Luka, those 'Shin Sekai' boys. My team." She wasn't sharing in his amusement, obviously. "And now you have them being spied on? Along with some other agents who are out looking for dissidents, which, if what I heard is right, has already ran into some major fucking problems?"
"You, of all people, should know whose idea it was it was and it sure as hell isn't mine." Luka shrugged. "It's out of my hands."
The female agent was obviously not pleased with his response. "Argh! Why are they doing this?! I don't want them getting tangled up in our business!" She stomped her feet on the tiled floor in frustration.
"We both know why this is happening," Luka was by no means fazed from his college's fit. "After what they did, you really weren't under the assumption that they could just get away with it, did you?" He stated, to which Irena reluctantly shook her head. "Exactly. They screwed a lot, and I do mean a lot, of things up, and we're still doing cleanup because of this."
Irena crossed her arms and huffed. Luka knew she wasn't angry at him. After all, he was the one who had insisted that she was placed under his command. He knew that some of the more vindictive members wanted to dump a good deal of the blame for Krizalid's failure entirely onto her, and he wasn't about to let such a thing happen on his watch.
After a bit of stewing, Irena let out an irritated sigh before shaking her head. "I'm sorry for being so snippy with you," She apologized, "Still, why send them?"
"The fact that 'your team' knows that you're an agent is probably one reason. Not to mention that you're technically still on probation right now," Luka said, to with Irena rolled her eyes at him.
"To be frank, those two kinda need the change of scenery. In case you forgot, Vio and Haru aren't like you or Sakari. Their circumstances for being here are way different, and I sometimes worry that our superiors don't realize that fact that the rigors of being an agent have a negative effect on their mental state."
After a second, she groaned. "I understand that. They are my friends too. It's just that…" Irena looked away for a few seconds. "…You know, never mind. I shouldn't be acting like this, anyway."
The scientist nodded silently. Luka could tell something was still bothering her, and he thought he knew what it was, but he wasn't going to press her anymore. "Is everything going ok? Because I can tell that you've been worked to death."
"I need a break." Irena voice turned exhausted at the mere mention of anything having to do with work. "I've been running around in circles, trying to deal with infighting, insubordination and trying to convince some of our 'investors' to not pull funding because they think we're on the verge of collapsing!"
"You're only preaching to the choir on that, Toryu. Unfortunately, as I said before, this is out of my hands for the moment. Since we're on the subject, anything interesting to report?"
"Nope. It's a mess." Irena shook her head. "Only good thing that I can say is defections seem to have decreased immensely over the last month. Hopefully, once that is stable, I'll be able to shift my focus on…well, other things."
Irena's expression darkened, and Luka knew that 'other things' meant trying to find the person she believed was responsible for the death of her former boss.
It was then she noticed a young man emerge from one of the rooms. "Hey, Sakari!" Irena announced, waving at him. Luka turned around to see Sakari slink out from around the corner.
"Irena…" He acknowledged, before noticing Luka next to his friend. "Luka, you're back already?" He said, slightly surprised.
Luka smiled at the rare glimpse of emotion on the boy. "That I am, Sakari. How's your body handling things with the nanomachines?"
"It's functional. That's all I can say at the moment." he yawned, "They still haven't given any missions for me to actually test stuff out. I've been just milling around various departments, helping Irena with her duties, and keeping an eye on your guinea pigs."
Luka frowned. "They're not guinea pigs. They're young ladies we're looking to bless with extraordinary powers. That is, if all goes well with the research."
"…Like I said. Guinea pigs."
Luka grumbled. Sakari's lack of empathy can be an issue at times. "Alright smartass, then tell me how the 'guinea pigs' are doing so far."
"Alright. Progress report: Since you've been gone, two girls have frozen solid, one died of organ failure, another had a seizure in her bed and is in a medically-induced coma, yet another lost a limb to frostbite…"
Irena cringed at the news, but Luka listened silently. Part of his job required him not to get too attached to the subjects. Having seen his share of death throughout his life, Luka had grown numb to it over time, but news like that still affected him, even if he didn't show it.
"…and one is barely responding to anything," Sakari continued, "she just sits in her bed all day, staring off into nothing."
"That's not true, Sakari." Irena finally spoke up. "She responds to me and Luka all the time. The experiments have taken a toll on her mentally, that's all."
"Irena's right; She's the furthest along of all the current subjects. If things go right, she might be around Kula's level of proficiency in no time." Luka said. "I have Kirou keeping tabs on her all the time, so I wouldn't worry about her too much."
"If you say so. Honestly, I'd probably just dump this stupid project on some other unit."
"In that case, those girls will definitely be little more than guinea pigs, so I'm not about to let that happen. Besides, it looks like progress is being made. We've come a long way since the initial phases of this project…"
"Like how our earliest attempts at reworking Kyo's DNA backfired and that one girl exploded?"
"Exploded?" Irena exclaimed
Sakari nodded, unaffected by Irena's shock. "Yep. To be more accurate, she lost control of the power, burst into flames first, then…" He was cut off when Luka bonked him on the head. "…the hell?!"
"Actually, Sakari, let's spare the girl those horrifying mental images and not get too into the early setbacks in our research." Luka said. "Why don't you head down there right now and get started on checkups for the girls?"
Rubbing his head, Sakari nodded before silently disappearing down the hall. Luka turned to Irena. "As for you, I'll see about getting you some more 'hands-on' work. I can't make any promises, but…"
"I understand. Thank you, Luka." Irena bowed. "For the moment, though, I'm going to go to my room and rest."
As Irena walked in the direction of her quarters, Luka found himself alone with his own thoughts. He couldn't help but wonder sometimes how a scientist like him ended up in an organization working as a part-time assassin with several teenagers as his subordinates, one of which he was actively using as a test subject for his own project.
His parents probably would flip if it weren't for the fact they died long before he even got out of school. Then again, they were never too keen on his interest in science to begin with. It was probably for the best he got kicked out of home…
Gah… Not letting myself get lost in my own memories again. Luka rubbed his face as he shook away dredges of the past in his mind. You sold your soul just to be able to even do this type of research, so make as much of it as you can. You are, no matter what any of those other scumbags try to say, NESTS' top scientist.
Standing up straight, Luka closed his eyes took a deep breath. After a few seconds, he opened his eyes again, mind clear of any nagging thoughts, and briskly strode down the hall, ready to get to work.
Shikiyo: There you go. In all honestly, the actual chapter is almost done, but everything depends on my mental state at this time, so I can't say for sure when it's coming. When it does, I'll give more insight into the future.
Until Next Time.
